1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for rapid colorimetry on different samples.
II. Brief Description of the Relevant Art:
To an increasing extent, manufacturing processes are being automated and monitored so that additional information in the form of bar codes, colored dots, colored rings and the like are impressed on the products to be worked. The products thus marked carry significant data in coded form which determine the production sequence and the marketing routing. Such marks must be detected by means of a scanner. Monochromatic bar codes are detected in known manner by light barriers or reflection scanners, in which a semiconductor diode or miniature bulb illuminates the object and a photodiode detects the reflected or transmitted radiation. Such known scanners are not suitable for detecting polychromatic marks and for distinguishing the colors thereof.
The relevant art discloses a color detection system in which halogen lamps are used as light sources and produce a white constant light radiation or emission, which is used for irradiating the object to be measured. The colorimetric values are obtained by means of several photoreceivers or photodetectors, upstream of each of which are connected color filters with different transmission ranges. These values are supplied to a computer, which effects the evaluation and associated of the signal supplied by the receiver with respect to the individual colors. In this known arrangement, the measuring field illumination, i.e. of the transmitter, is relatively large and, as a result of the halogen lamps, produces undesired heat. In addition, protection against parasitic light is necessary, because such light would otherwise also be detected by the photoreceivers. In addition, the measuring time of approximately 8 milliseconds is relatively long.